Grant: Dissemination Events - PA: Musculoskeletal Hlth, Arthritis, Skin & Oral Health

In May 2007, we hosted the first Ottawa Conference on Neuromuscular Disease, which spanned three days, featured eight scientific sessions and over 30 local, national and international scientific speakers. By all accounts, the meeting was a resounding success. The 2nd Ottawa Conference on Neuromuscular Disease, May 5-8, 2010, will be held jointly with the semi-annual "New Directions in Biology & Disease of Skeletal Muscle" meeting. Combining the two meetings not only avoids duplicate effort and the potential competition for attendees, but will draw additional scientists and trainees to the Ottawa Conference that might not otherwise attend. "The Ottawa Conference on New Directions in Biology & Disease of Skeletal Muscle", to be held at the Westin Hotel (Ottawa), will highlight current developments in muscle biology, disease, and therapy. The Conference is divided into seven scientific sessions spanning three days, with over 30 speakers from North American and abroad. We also have two Keynote speakers Drs. Eric Olson and Andrew Marks, and, in collaboration with the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA-USA), we are holding a special round-table discussion session on challenges facing development of novel therapeutics for treating neuromuscular disease. We anticipate ~300 attendees. The total cost of the meeting will be approximately $200,000, half of which will be recovered through our registration fee. The remaining funds will be obtained from various sources including national and international granting and charitable agencies, and local research and educational institutes. The money obtained from this CIHR application will be used to off-set some of the costs of travel and accommodation for our invited speakers. We have ample experience to successfully organize and host the May 2010 meeting. We believe the combined meeting is well-set to accomplish its goals, and will provide an excellent forum for scientific discussion and interaction.